2* St 9 5 

•$5f5 A3 



•S5f5 A3 



BX 8495 
.S545 
A3 

Copy 1 



f 

I THE 

i 

Embassador of Christ: 

I • 

§ k 



EMI- LENTENNIAL pERMON 



PREACHED AT THE NINETEENTH SESSION OF THE CINCINNATI ANNUAL 
CONFERENCE, HELD AT PIQUA, OHIO, AUGUST 24-29, 1870. 



By Rev. William Simmons. 



'■'Ask thy Father, and he will shew thee : thy Elders, and they will tell thee.' n — Dent, xxxii, 7. 



\ 



THE EMBASSADOR OF CHRIST: 



A 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON, 



PREACHED AT THE NINETEENTH SESSION OF THE CINCINNATI 
ANNUAL CONFERENCE, HELD AT P1QUA, 
AUGUST 24—29, 1870. 



By REV. WILLIAM SIMMONS. 



"Ask thy Father and he will shew thee ; thy elder s^ and they will tell 
thee." Deut. xxxii, 7. 




C INC INN A TI: 
PRINTED AT THE WESTERN METHODIST BOOK CONCERN. 

1870. 



3 Aw 5 



TO THE READER. 



The following discourse is an attempt to comply with the follow- 
ing resolutions passed at the session of the Cincinnati Conference, 
held in Hillsboro, Aug. 25-Sept. 1, 1869 : 

Whereas, Our esteemed and much-beloved Father, William Simmons, will, if God 
spare his life another year, have served half a century in the Itinerancy ; therefore, 
be it 

Resolved, That as a mark of the high esteem in which he is held by his co-laborers 
in the work of the Master, he be requested to preach a semi-centennial sermon at the 
next annual session of our Conference. 

Resolved, That our prayer to Almighty God is, that he may be spared to fill the 
appointment. 

M. P. Gaddis, 
A. Meharry, 
W. I. Fee. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 



" Now then, we are embassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by 
us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 2 Cor. v, 20. 

IN presenting this subject, I will consider, 1. The character 
and work of an embassador. Literally, an embassador is a 
minister of the highest rank, employed by one prince or State 
at the court of another, to manage the public concerns of his 
own prince or State, and representing the dignity and power of 
his own sovereign or State. The embassador's loyalty to his own 
Government should be above suspicion. Before leaving his own 
country he receives definite and positive written instructions 
with reference to his duty ; what he shall say and how he shall 
act while at the foreign court. He is not to flatter nor be flat- 
tered, so as in any wise to compromise the great and vital in- 
terests of his own Government. In his social intercourse with 
foreigners he should act in such a manner as deeply to impress 
all in whose society he mingles, that he represents — if, indeed, 
he does — a nation highly cultivated, not only in diplomatic 
wisdom, but also in pure morality, in truth, chastity, sobriety, 
nay temperance; for what business has a wine-bibber to be man- 
aging the affairs of a great and virtuous nation at a foreign court? 

2. I will consider the character and work of an embassador 
of Christ. He is one sent of Christ to labor for the salvation 
of mankind, in the absence of Christ in his personal presence on 
earth. It was a wonderful exhibition of God's love to the fallen 
race, to give his only begotten Son, who from eternity was co- 
equal with him, to come into this world of sin to suffer and die, 

3 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 



that the rebel race might have life and not perish. And next to 
this wonderful display of Divine goodness, may we not consider 
his wonderful and great condescension in connecting fallen, re- 
deemed, saved man with himself, in developing the great and 
gracious work of saving man? 

God did not employ holy angels to come to us with the mes- 
sage of mercy and grace, but chose men of like passions with 
ourselves to preach to us the Gospel of Christ. We must never 
for a moment lose sight of the fact that it is Christ that calls 
the minister, for no man taketh this honor unto himself but he 
that is called of God, as was Aaron. Hence, the Gospel min- 
istry is not a mere profession, but a Divine calling — the author- 
ity calling him is the highest in the universe, for Christ is King 
of kings and Lord of lords — and the embassador is to represent 
the character, dignity, power, and goodness of the Holy Trinity 
as clearly revealed in the Bible, exhibited in the great plan of 
salvation by Christ. His instructions are clearer and more sol- 
emn than those given to any embassador sent from one nation to 
another; for if he should take away from his instructions, God 
will take away from him his part out of the Book of Life, or if 
he should add any thing to his instructions, God will add to 
him the plagues written in the Bible. 

When we consider the dignity and power of the Being call- 
ing a mortal man into the holy ministry, and the work to be 
performed, well may we tremble and halt at the very threshold 
of the work. No man should ever venture into this holy work 
unless he is fully satisfied that God, for Christ's sake, has par- 
doned all his sins, and adopted him into his holy family. Then, 
too, he must be fully satisfied that he is inwardly moved by the 
Holy Ghost to preach the Gospel. It will be safe for all, feel- 
ing something of this inward moving of the Spirit, to pray and 
wait, and if God is really calling him to this work, he will impress 
the same thing on the heart of the Church, and she will open his 
way. A further confirmation of his call to preach the Gospel is 
this: When he exercises in prayer, exhortation, etc., God gives 
him liberty and enlargement of soul, sinners are awakened, and 
believers are edified. Whatever other qualifications he may pos- 



THE EMBASSADOR OF CHRIST. 



5 



sess — the more the better — unless the man is soundly converted 
to God, and clearly called by the Holy Spirit to preach, he can 
never be an embassador of Christ. 

The qualifications briefly presented, will appear the more 
important when we consider the embassador's work. He is to 
beseech and pray sinners, in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to 
God, and 0, what a work! It 

" Might fill an angel's heart, 
And filled a Savior's hands." 

It is here evidently implied that sinners in their natural 
state are not reconciled to God, but are enemies in their hearts, 
and manifesting it by their ungodly lives. The embassador 
comes beseeching the sinners to lay down their arms of rebellion, 
cease their hostility, and be reconciled to God. What conde- 
scension on the part of God, thus to intreat men to accept free 
pardon at his hands ! 

The awfully solemn character of the pastor's work will ap- 
pear clearly when we look at it in the light of revelation. " Son 
of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel : 
therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning 
from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; 
and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked 
from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man 
shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy 
hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his 
wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniq- 
uity; but thou hast delivered thy soul." Ezekiel iii, 17, 18, 19. 
What a powerful motive is here presented to honest fidelity in 
the pastor's work ! 0, may I and my brethren be found pure 
from the blood of souls, when we appear before the judgment- 
seat of Christ to give an account of our stewardship ! 

It was with some such views of the magnitude of the min- 
ister's work, although not as definitely understood then as now, 
that, after an indescribable mental conflict for four years after 
I felt that God for Christ's sake had freely pardoned all my sins, 
I solemnly, and in the fear of God, gave myself wholly to 
the work of calling sinners to be reconciled to God. On the 



6 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 



17th day of July, 1820, in the house of Benjamin Penn, near the 
Gregg camp-ground, I was examined by Rev. J. B. Finley, presid- 
ing elder, before the large quarterly-meeting conference of White 
Oak circuit. Here I was licensed to preach, and recommended to 
the Ohio Conference, which that year sat in Chillicothe, August 
7th, where I was received into the traveling connection. 

One question, by the presiding elder, and my answer, before 
I was licensed to preach, I shall never forget: "Do you think," 
said the elder, " that it is your duty to give yourself wholly to 
the work of the ministry?" I replied, "If God has called me 
at all, he has called me to give up every thing else." I received 
my first appointment to the Piqua circuit, Rev. W. Westlake in 
charge part of the year, and Rev. L. Swormstedt the balance 
of the year. We had twenty-eight appointments; our rest days 
were gained by preaching twice a day a few times. The circuit 
then included the two Piqua stations, two Troy stations, a por- 
tion of Concord circuit, New Carlisle, Tremont, Addison, Fletcher, 
Lockington, and Brant, Palmer, Wayne, and Pisgah chapels, and 
a portion of the territory now embraced in the Central Ohio 
Conference. Rev. J. B. Finley was my presiding elder. 

Our custom in those days was to lead class after preaching. 
We would as soon have thought of omitting preaching as to have 
omitted the class-meeting. People came to church to worship 
God, they prayed before they came, and expected to be blessed 
and go home happy. The idea that some have, that this kind of 
drill was necessary to train the ignorant, uncultivated Christian 
in the knowledge of Divine things is simply a ridiculous evi- 
dence of the ignorance of the character of the Christian men 
and women of those days. Many of them were giants in the 
knowledge of Bible truth and personal Christian experience, who 
would put many Doctors of Divinity to the blush. No, they 
attended class because the fire of God's love was in their souls, 
and they, like David, loved to tell it to all who feared the Lord; 
and I say fearlessly, that no substitute has ever been, nor do I 
believe will ever be found for the class-meeting. I believe that 
if we would pray more and legislate less, it would add to our 
spirituality and moral power as a Church. 



THE EMBASSADOR OF CHRIST. 



7 



I was greatly encouraged in the beginning of my itinerant 
life by my godly parents, now in glory; my father favored me 
with a good letter frequently, which put courage into my trem- 
bling heart. In one of those letters, dated July, 1821, he speaks 
thus : " Yours, my child, is a place of the greatest importance 
that ever man filled on the earth; therefore give up your whole 
soul, body, and all you have, to God and his cause; lean on him 
for succor, who is able and will support you while you put your 
trust in him. Be faithful in the discharge of every duty, always 
remembering that the way of duty is the way of safety. Though 
you may sow in weakness, if you are humble at your Master's 
feet, God will bless your labors and crown them with success. 
I assure you that your friends and classmates pray much for 
you, that you may succeed. Keep clear of pride, that cursed 
sin which spoils so many promising young men, and is a fatal 
dagger to vital holiness. You are running a race, my child, not 
for an earthly prize; if you were, I never could have consented 
to let you go. Although painful to be parted in body, yet 
the pleasing prospect that at last we shall meet in heaven, fills 
my soul with love, and I can say, Go wherever duty calls. Do n't 
let the affection you have for your parents and friends prevent 
you from the discharge of your duty. Try to preach Christ so 
plainly and faithfully as to make your people feel sensible that 
you are seeking their salvation." 

I may here say that I have kept my vow that I took when I 
said, I will do that part of the work which my brethren, subject 
to the same rule, shall judge best. Then, too, there were many 
wise, godly men and women on the circuit, who held up my 
hands and helped me in the Lord, and at whose feet I sat and 
learned many good lessons. Among the many, I may name 
mother Hendershott, I. Scudder, Rev. J, P. Finley, and Rev. J. 
Tatman. 

On this, my first circuit, I had plenty of beech swamps, 
which sometimes were almost impassable. One instance I will 
record : In February, 1821 , between where "Westville now stands 
and Piqua, I had twelve miles of a wilderness, mud deep and 
frozen, but not hard enough to bear my horse; the poor animal 



8 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL SEEMON. 



was plunging and his legs bleeding. Here I was attacked by 
Satan, wbo whispered, " You are killing your horse, hence sinning 
against God ; you are running before you are sent ; so go home to 
the farm." Darkness seemed to surround me, I felt like sinking; 
then I prayed to the Lord to show me what was my duty; my 
heart was melted into tenderness, the tears rolled down my cheeks, 
my soul was filled with joy, and I made the grand old beech 
woods vocal with shouts of salvation. Praise the Lord, 0 my 
soul! Just then my noble horse moved off without any appar- 
ent trouble. I reached my appointment in due time, preached 
in a cabin with liberty, and had a glorious class-meeting. 

At the time I joined the Conference its bounds may be indi- 
cated by the following list of districts, namely : Ohio district, 
William Swayze presiding elder; Muskingum district, Jonathan 
Stamper presiding elder; Lancaster district, Charles Waddle 
presiding elder; Scioto district, John Collins presiding elder; 
Lebanon district, J. B. Finley presiding elder; Miami district, 
Walter Griffith presiding elder; Kentucky district, Alexander 
Cummins presiding elder. So you see the Conference reached 
from Western Pennsylvania into Indiana, and from Charleston, 
West Virginia, to Green Bay. My presiding elders have been 
Revs. J. B. Finley, J. Strange, G. R. Jones, E. Bigelow, T. 
A. Morris, W. B. Christie, J. Quinn, D. Young, M. Marlay, S. 
Hamilton, W. H. Baper, J. M. Trimble, W. I. Ellsworth, D. 
Reed, D. Warnock, J. F. Chalfant, A. Lowrey, W. H. Sutherland, 
and J. W. Weakley; and I can say, to the best of my recollec- 
tion, I never had any difficulty with any of my presiding 
elders. I have been in the district work fourteen years, 
circuit work seventeen years, and stations and half-stations — 
one of which, Hamilton, had eleven appointments to be filled 
every two weeks — eighteen years, and one year an agent for the 
Freedmen's Aid Society. 

When I joined the Conference there were in the United 
States eleven Conferences, nine hundred and four traveling 
preachers, two hundred and forty thousand nine hundred and 
twenty-four members, there being a net increase that year of 
fifteen thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven members. When 



THE EMBASSADOR OF CHRIST. 



9 



we review the past and consider the present, well may we ex- 
claim, "What hath God wrought through his embassadors of one 
branch of his visible Church! What gratitude should fill the 
heart of every living pastor, to know that the Gospel of Christ, 
presenting a universal atonement, and free salvation for all man- 
kind, as preached by the ministers of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, has taken such deep root in the hearts of the people, 
and has produced, and is still producing, such an - abundant har- 
vest of immortal souls, through the Word preached, a present, 
free, and full salvation ! Glory be to God and the Lamb for- 
ever and ever, amen!" 

The manner of presenting the Gospel adhered to by our 
fathers, and which has produced such wonderful results, is beau- 
tifully presented in our excellent Discipline where it reads, " What 
is the best general metho i of preaching? Answer. 1. To con- 
vince; 2. To offer Christ; 3. To invite; 4. To build up; and to 
do this in some measure in every sermon. Question 2. What is 
the most effectual way of preaching Christ? Answer. The most 
effectual way of preaching Christ is to preach him in all offices, 
and to declare his law as well as his Gospel both to believers 
and unbelievers. Let us strongly and closely insist upon inward 
and outward holiness in all its branches." If these views be 
correct, those who insist on presenting new, not to say strange 
things, to the people in order to keep up an interest, unless they 
guard the subject with care, may do much harm. Whatever 
new thing may be presented, the above directions should be 
strictly and honestly adhered to, and Christ will see to it that 
the interest in the congregation and in the preachers will be 
kept up; for souls will be saved, and wherever souls are coming 
home to God there will be interest felt and manifested in the 
Church and in the community. Paul was not ashamed of the 
Gospel of Christ, because it was the power of God unto salva- 
tion, as it always has been and always will be when truly and 
faithfully preached. And I do insist on it, that the main design 
of preaching the Gospel is to reach the heart of the sinner and 
bring him to a sense of his lost condition and lead him to Christ. 
Then he must be trained in the way of holiness, to prepare him 



10 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL SEEMON. 



for heaven ; and should we ever lose sight of this great idea and 
suppose that mental culture will be sufficient to lead the sinner 
to God and heaven, Ichabod will be written on us, for our 
glory will have departed. 

We must still preach the great cardinal truths of the Gospel 
as did our fathers. In order to do this effectually we must have 
inwrought in our own souls the great doctrines of revelation, 
verified and demonstrated in our personal salvation, having the 
fire of God's love so burning, and the love of souls for whom 
Christ died flaming within us as to constrain us with strong argu- 
ments, crying, and tears to come armed thus from the Lord to 
pray sinners in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God, and the 
minister should look and labor faithfully for immediate results 
in the salvation of souls. 

In view, then, of this whole subject, I would say that the 
direct care of souls, as committed to the pastor, is the most im- 
portant work ever intrusted to mortal man on earth; and any 
one who has been called by the Head of the Church to preach 
and watch for souls, and then for any cause comes to look on 
the pastoral work as inferior to any other, or makes it a step- 
ping-stone to some other position, or place of more distinction, or 
one that will give him more money, whether that position be 
that of agent, editor, professor, president of college, or even 
bishop, is in error; and if he lays his plans and manages to get 
out of the regular pastoral work into some other position of 
more ease, honor, or profit, he sins against God, and hinders 
the march of Christ's glorious kingdom on earth. If no man 
here ever did this, none will wince ; but if any have, I pray that 
God may lead all such to repentance and full salvation from all 
pride and sinful ambition! I love to see talents and piety noticed 
and elevated to places of mark and distinction, but let this come 
in a regular way, without being sought after, or managed for; 
let it appear to all good and wise men, who have the cause of God 
at heart, that the change is according to the will of God in the 
absence of all human plottings. I would further say, that if a 
man is truly called of God to give himself wholly to the work 
of the ministry, it is unsafe for him to turn aside to any other 



THE EMBASSADOR OF CHRIST. 



12 



business. I have seen some do this and appear to become wealthy 
who now live in obscurity, without any ministerial character, or 
have died poor. Hence, I fully believe that if we are faithful, 
and do our whole duty, we will be sustained by the Ghurch and 
the Great Head of the Church. I therefore advise no young 
man to engage in the work of the ministry until he is fully sat- 
isfied that God has called him thereunto : then, let him live near 
the cross, keep the holy fire burning in his soul, and never in- 
dulge the thought for one moment of turning aside to any other 
work. I here advise what I have tried to practice, although 
often in great weakness and with many imperfections. 

In the fifty years of my itinerant life I have traveled more 
than one hundred thousand miles, preached more than five thou- 
sand times, witnessed many glorious revivals of religion, seen 
more than ten thousand members brought into the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and during this time have received, in all, 
about twenty thousand dollars. Somehow, by rigid economy, 
I have kept square with the world, and do not feel fearful that 
I shall come to want in my old age, for I have God's promise 
that my bread and water shall be secure. I rejoice greatly in 
the outward prosperity of the Church, the multiplication of 
churches, colleges, and seminaries, especially of our female insti- 
tutions, and the increase of conferences from eleven to seventy- 
one; and while I would avoid croaking I can not forget the his- 
tory of other Churches, nor be blind to our own clanger of trust- 
ing to our outward success, as an evidence of Divine favor, and 
losing the unction of the Holy Ghost. 

Our mode of traveling in those days was on horseback, often 
through an unbroken forest, guided by marks on the trees and 
frequently in deep mud, nay, mire; more than once has my 
horse swamped down, I having to dismount and help the poor 
animal up, wading out, leading my faithful horse. On the Lon- 
don circuit my horse fell under me and was dead in five min- 
utes, leaving me without means of traveling, and far from home. 
In this trial the friends rallied under the direction of my col- 
league, Kev. D. D. Davisson ; collections were made, including 
gifts of cows, calves, and two barrels of nice home-made sugar ; 



12 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 



and in about six weeks I was mounted on as good a horse as 
the one I had lost. Besides these gifts, I received that year 
forty-eight dollars quarterage; I thanked Grod and took courage. 
On Brush Creek circuit I was, on one occasion, carried into deep 
water, and was in great danger of drowning, but was saved, 
praise the Lord! 

From Brush creek Circuit I was sent to Detroit district, 
which then included the whole of Michigan and Ohio from the 
Wyandot Mission to the michigan line, and was also stationed 
in the .city of Detroit, then numbering about forty-five mem- 
bers all told. This was a great trial of my faith; but on the 
way brother Baughman and I spent the Sabbath among the Wy- 
andots, with the families of brothers Finley and Brooke. Here I 
preached to the Indians through I. Pointer, a colored man, as in- 
terpreter. I had such liberty and received such a baptism of the 
Holy Spirit that I went on cheerfully and happy to my work, 
and had a pleasant year among whites and Indians, in the city 
of two thousand five hundred inhabitants, in deep mud and 
swimming rivers. When I started for Conference I was just out 
of what threatened to be a fatal illness; a brother accompanied 
me in a buggy to Monroe; twice on the way we stuck fast in the 
swamps, and had a clever Yankee wade in, waist deep, an'd pull 
us out with his oxen; my friend waded out and went after help, 
and I sat and sung 

" To patient faith the prize is sure," etc., 

and was happy, glory to God! I got safely to Conference, and 
in such a feeble state of health that I asked to be relieved 
from the district and station, which was granted, and I was sent 
to Chillicothe, which alarmed me more than it would had I been 
remanded back to Detroit, as this was then the most important 
station in the Conference outside of Cincinnati. 

Here I preached what in these days would be called a polit- 
ical sermon, for in those days we preached against sins by names ; 
and woe be to the office-seeker if he arrayed himself on the side 
of sin and immorality in any shape, whether it was in favor of 
drinking, swearing, Sabbath-breaking, or getting up balls and 

s 



THE EMBASSADOR OF CHRIST. 



13 



dances to draw off the young members of the Church into sin 
and folly; and the beauty of the thing was, that the men of the 
Church, who, in every respect, were the chief men of the, city, 
with such men as Govs. Tiffin and Worthington, with many 
others among them, would hold up their heads and say amen, while 
many would shout " Salvation," while the faithful pastor was de- 
claring the truth of God faithfully, and clearing his skirts of the 
blood of souls. The time alluded to was one of the happiest 
periods in my history ; the enemy was foiled, the Church saved, 
and a ball announced for the 22d of February, was abandoned. 
Glory to God ! my heart leaps for joy while I think of the scenes 
of that conflict ; and glorious conquest. I preached then against 
dancing and balls because L believed then, as I do now, that they 
are the great engines of the devil and wicked men to draw souls 
from Christ and lead them to eternal ruin ; and unless we put these 
things away from us, the Lord will curse us with leanness, and we 
will be chargeable with the blood of souls in the day of judgment. 
I always thought more of a good conscience and what I believed 
to be the smiles of God, than I did of the good opinions of men; 
yet I always deferred cheerfully to the judgment of men and 
women in whom I had full confidence as godly persons living in 
the enjoyment of religion, seeking to please God rather than men; 
but when I suspected that any one wanted to blunt the edge of 
my sword, I felt like being off from them and taking lessons from 
the Word of the Lord which abideth forever. 

In closing the fiftieth year of my itinerant life, I do devoutly 
thank the Lord for all his mercies to me, and I thank my breth- 
ren in the ministry for all their kindnesses, and Christian for- 
bearance, and prayers while I have gone in and out before the 
Church. And now a few words to the official and private mem- 
bers of the Church : Beloved brothers and sisters, having spoken 
freely of and to the ministers of Christ, will you suffer the 
word of exhortation in the language of St. Paul: " Receive us; 
we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have 
defrauded no man." 2 Cor. vii, 2. No minister will ever be 
sent to you but such as is approved by his Conference annually — 
and what Church keeps such watch over her ministers as does 



14 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 



our Church? When your minister arrives, don't stand off to 
see whether he is your style of a minister or not, but receive him 
cheerfully, and pray for him, that he may feed your souls that 
year. Whether, like Paul, he is a mighty reasoner, or an elo- 
quent orator, like Apollos, or, like Peter, a son of thunder, through 
whom God's violated law speaks forth in terrors, if you will 
pray and help your preacher, you will grow in grace under his 
ministry; if you do not, you will backslide under the ministry 
of the best preacher in the Church. 

In concluding this sermon, let me say that I still view the 
embassador's work as the most important trust ever committed 
to mortal man by the Great Head of the Church, the Good Shep- 
herd of the flock, purchased by the blood of the Lamb; and 
also that our great itinerant plan, properly worked and faith- 
fully carried out, affords a field for ministerial usefulness to be 
found nowhere else in this fallen, but redeemed world of ours ; and 
viewing this work as I do, with the toil and happiness in it, 
and the glory to be revealed more and more to all eternity, 
if I could see all the losses and crosses, deep rivers, creeks, and 
swamps, and the storms and chilling blasts by day, and some- 
times poor shelter by night, through which I have passed during 
the last fifty years, and had to begin life again, feeling called, as 
I did, to warn sinners to flee the wrath to come, I would say, My 
Lord and Master, if it be thy will, I will take the fifty years of 
itinerant toil and the glory that shall follow. 

Soldiers of the Cross, companions in itinerant toil, I ask you, 
each and all, to join me, with all Christian people, in prayer to 
God that I may stand firmly, and finally fall at the post of duty 
covered with the glory of victory, finishing my course with joy 
and the ministry that I have received of the Lord Jesus! My 
prayer is that you may live long, and be faithful ministers of 
Christ, and come at last with many sheaves, and many stars! 
0 what a glorious meeting we shall have in our Father's house 
above! Those who have spent their lives in calling sinners to 
be reconciled to God will meet before the throne of God and 
say, "Here I am, and the children that thou hast given me," 
and casting our crowns and honor at the feet of Jesus, then shall 



THE EMBASSADOR OF CHRIST. 



15 



we join in one general and joyful band, saying, " Unto him that 
loved us, and hath washed us from our sins in his own blood, and 
hath made us kings and priests unto his father, to him be glory 
and dominion forever;" while the walls of heaven shall ring with 
the loud shouts of glory! glory! halleluiah! praise the Lord, 0 
my soul ! The view of that happy day, though it may be dis- 
tant fires my soul, and I will shout glory ! glory ! halleluiah ! 
praise the Lord! 



LIBRARY^ OF CONGRESS £ 1 

0 027 204 485 5 



S5f5 A3 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 











I 




1 










0 027 204 485 5 • 



Hollinger Corp. 
pH 8.5 



